PV

Returns the present value (PV) of a series of equal payments made at regular intervals, assuming a fixed interest rate per interval.

Format 

PV ( payment ; interestRate ; periods )

Parameters 

payment - payment amount to be made per period. Type a negative number for money you pay and a positive number for money you receive.

interestRate - interest rate per period.

periods - number of periods (intervals between payments).

Data type returned 

number

Originated in version 

6.0 or earlier

Description 

Use this function to calculate PV.

Equation

Notes 

  • When interestRate is 0, this function returns the result of payment * periods.

Example 1 

Your cousin borrowed $2,000 from you, offering to pay you back $500 a year for five years, for a total of $2,500 at the end of five years. If inflation was 5 percent annually, with the following entry you could find out what those payments are worth with the PV function.

PV(500;.05;5) returns 2164.73833531....

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